Blixa Bargeld is frontman for Einstürzende Neubauten, member of NickCave's Bad Seeds, occasional actor and contributor to various plays andsoundtracks. For Maria von Heland's German suspense thriller "Recycled",Bargeld composes nearly all of the soundtrack, as arranged andorchestrated by the Tim Isfort Orchestra. Unlike Bargeld's previous solowork "Commissioned Music" this music is not as minimal and emotionallysparse. Isfort's large orchestra, undoubtedly influenced by classiccomposers such as Morricone, provides a rich classical palette to paintBargeld's various moods. "Küss mich wach" ("Kiss Me Awake") begins thedisc vocally as Bargeld and Amanda Ooms solo and duet German lyrics oversweeping strings and a light piano and beat rhythm. Ooms also speaksGerman text on another brief track. The remaining 19 tracks areinstrumental pieces, ranging 9 seconds to 4 minutes, obviously meant tocorrespond with the events and moods of the film. "Mr. Aloha" by Carnivalof Souls is unexpectedly tacked on to the end but it's charming waves ofpedal steel work well. What's important here for me, as a fan of Bargeldand someone who will likely never see the film, is that the soundtrackholds up on it's own. And that it does, very well. The sound is fulland varied and the flow is very comfortable. "Recycled" is a beautifulwork completely on it's own and well worth the $15 import price.samples:
N.U. Unruh is percussionist for Einstürzende Neubauten and "Euphoria inthe Age of Digital Information Transfer" is, surprisingly, his first soloalbum. Unruh's idea was to compose sequences entirely from the sampledsounds of various digital devices to give musical life to everyday itemsnot normally heard in that context. The audio library is extensive:motors, oscillators, alarms, beepers, phones, toys, video games, doorbells, office machines, etc. provide all sorts of beeps, blips, tones,drones, lo-fi animal calls and human voices. Each of the 26 tracks, mostin the less than 1 minute to 3 minute range, are a whirring din of theseaudio bits arranged into multi tracked mini symphonies. Cheesy sounds andplayful melodies are plentiful and the most promising tracks tend to bethe shortest and least developed. The final "Appendix" sample trackprovides most if not all of the samples one a time in succession. Bythis point it all seems rather silly, tedious and pointless ... much likea room full of toddlers feverishly banging away at the sound triggeringbuttons on their toys while others simultaneously play video games. Andconsidering that I'm pretty bored with and/or annoyed by most of thesesounds in my day to day life, they don't do much more for me organizedinto less than interesting 'songs'. "Euphorie.." will be filed away andmost likely never listened to again.
An unlikely combinationpairs the British analogue whore, Barry 7 with the blissfulMichigan-based soundscapist, Randall Nielman for a 20 minute two-trackEP. While it's more endearing than the recent release from Add N to(X), the Füxa contribution can't save it enough to justify the price ofadmission. Track one starts out promising, even Christmas-sounding, butvery little changes throughout the entire piece. It sounds completelyout of tune and too repetitious. Once again, the mundane repetitionkicks in with track 2. "And Another Thing!" is far too dull and at 13minutes it carries on for what seems like an eternity. Ow, this isgiving me a headache!!! Sorry, I really did have hope.
One of the most accomplished electronic musicians to emerge from the American underground in the last couple of years, Joshua Kit Clayton has honed his deft skills on a series of singles touching on a variety of musical styles, but these two album length releases focus mainly on the minimal, dub-influenced sounds that seem to have become his forte of late. On Repetition and Nonsense, most of the material rides on a nervous tech-house groove, with tracks like "A Choice of Words" and "M-Shape" having an edge of off-kilter funkiness. Overlaying it all is a murky dub filter that inspires mild comparisons to the sounds of Pole and the Chain Reaction crew.
These influences are even more prevalent on nek sanalet (which is fitting since the ~scape label is run by Pole's Stefan Betke). While Repetition is painted with a thin coating of watery dub production, this album is completely submerged in a sea of slightly sinister loops and echoes. Subtle beats flow from side to side as minimal bleeps and stomach-churning bass wrestle in a venue drenched with reverb and washes of ambient sound. If any record deserves the Betke-coined tag of "modern urban dub", this enveloping and addictive disc is it.
Two of my favorite MouseOn Mars releases were initially released through Thrill Jockey in theUSA on vinyl only, this one and 'Glam.' For years now, Glam has beenavailable on CD as an overpriced Japanese import, but it contains someof their best recorded stuff ever along with a few bonus cuts for goodmeasure. Now, after a couple years, 'Instrumentals' is available on CD.With only 7 tracks, this disc clocks in just comfortably over 18minutes. The tracks are closer to a 4/4 electronic style the grouppursued years ago, slick and smooth, serene and delicate, with superbglitchy sounds coloring the beats. At this time, Mouse on Mars wasworking delicately with songcraft along with developing their ownsounds to sparkle the spectrum. These recordings are collected between1995 and 1997 but are virtually timeless. When the 'intelligent dancemusic' moves onwards to the next trend, this album will still be onethat's excellent every time you pull it from the shelf. If youabsolutely must have everything, the Japanese edition has one bonustrack.
The ever-effervescent Japanese duo Pizzicato Five is back with yet anotheralbum chock full of kitschy goodness. Elements of lounge, cabaret, and retro60s TV-show theme songs abound once again, but what is so impressive about P5'slatest foray is the arrangements and orchestrations of real instruments asopposed to the band's usual heavy reliance on samples (although of these thereis no shortage!). Horns, strings, piano and woodwinds artfully accompany livedrums and guitar, producing a much more sophisticated all-over sound comparedto previous efforts. The tempo is upbeat and rousing for most of the songs,and either sexy, funky, trippy, or frenetically paced ("Tout, Tout Pour MaCherie" is borderline techno anthem); although the last handful of songs have amuch more laid-back vibe. Additionally, two of the songs, "Darlin' ofDiscotheque" and "A Perfect World (Album Version)" are actually remixes of twoother tracks on the album ("Wild Strawberries" and "A Perfect World,"respectively). As much as I've always loved Pizzicato Five, one issue withtheir music has often been the hit-or-miss quality of the albums: one half ofthe songs on a record will be impeccable, but the other somewhat weak. Fifth puts anend to this trend with consistently good production and songwriting.
Two new offerings under two new pseudonyms for Finland's Vladislav Delay,the 3rd and 4th full length albums released this year alone (see alsoVladislav Delay "Multila" and "Entain"), both under the Force Inc. MusikWerks umbrella. "Vocalcity" collects together all of the tracks from the3 Force Tracks' 12"s onto one convenient digital platter. LUOMO sees Delaydive head first into house, surprisingly enough. The term 'house music'has always been a bit of an oxymoron to me since it usually conjures upthe stereotype of cheesy, unimaginative dance floor shite. Delay,unsurprisingly, does it with much style and skill. The 6 tracks, most ofwhich are in the 12-14 minute range, fuse minimal deep house rhythms withbits and pieces of Delay's trademark sound fragments, diva vocal loops andspacious atmospheres. It's a soulful, mildly deconstructed mix of funk,dub, ambiance and electronic groove in a creatively conventional package.As with everything Delay does, attention to detail is crucial as eachtrack slowly unfolds, changing colors like a chameleon and mesmerizing atgreat length. "Vocalcity" is primo house that should appeal equally tothe discerning IDM elitists and the masses that just want something coolto dance to.
"Vapaa Muurari Live" picks up where "Entain" left off with 71 more minutesof Delay fashioned electronic explorations. The disc is titled and indexedas 14 tracks but is actually a continuous mix in four distinct, extendedmovements. Each of these sections draws a bit more of an influence from aparticular style, such as dance, dub and jazz. All of the usual Delayelements are here: a churning sea of sound granules, mostly indiscerniblehuman sighs and mutterings (as well as a relatively long dialogue passagefrom "Eyes Wide Shut"), deep dub and club informed rhythms, seeminglyrandom audio events, dense ambient environments and an overall gradual(d)evolution of sound and groove. This is chaos in expansion. This isthe birth, life, death and afterlife of beauty. This is electronic musicfrom the human soul. Can you tell yet that I love everything by this guy?His music is utterly gorgeous. I will continue to joyfully soak thesediscs in while awaiting the next round. You should too ...
